Podo Hotel — Hotel in Seogwipo-si

This hotel was just what we needed during our trip to Jeju Island. Firstly, it's expensive (we didn't need the expensive price) and it will be difficult to justify this price. Visiting here will depend on why you are going to Jeju. For us, it was to unwind, spend some quality family time together and just be. This hotel was perfect for that. The hotel itself is a work of art. It is part of the Spinx golf resort. I believe that is is currently operated by the SK group. Due to the elevation, it is one of the unlucky courses for weather. There is more fog and poor weather days than many of the courses on the island, but when the weather is clear, OMG it's a beautiful course. Back to the hotel: The room we has was so spacious, that we dreamt of creating a summer cottage to similar specs as our hotel room, because it was so perfect for us. The food at the hotel is first rate, be it Korean or western. In the odd chance that you have a picky eater in the family, McDonald's is a 10 to 15 min drive away! In fact, aside from the main city, most places worth visiting are 10 to 15 min away. It's also wonderfully serene there at all hours of the day. We were able to drive and visit various places that we had hand picked to eat at without any traffic worry (must have a rental 🚗 car). Downsides: There are not many downsides to this resort hotel, but I will list what I found off. Pool: There is an indoor and outdoor pool located 3 min down the road by car. The land is that large! 3 min is NOT walking distance. It's at another building called the annex. All of the facilities are fine, but having the pool so far away makes things difficult to organize family visits. Spa? It would be nice if there was a spa or more space for activities for those among the group who are not golfers, or perhaps to cater to 1 adult and a couple of children should there be an avid golfer in the family and that person would want the other family members to enjoy more while he or she golfs up a storm. (Not me... just sayen)

It'd called the Podo hotel because the shape from above resembles a bunch of grapes. I wonder if that was exactly what was intended. I wonder if they were trying to create a bunch of modern-day Jeju Island houses and the result ended up looking like a bunch of grapes? You decide. Either way it's cool.

The hotel itself is quite an impressive combination of modern-day and artistic expression.

I would visit again for all the same reasons we did...

We traveled to Jeju Island and had the most amazing stay at Podo Hotel for four nights.||Podo is located on the South side of Jeju Island, about 35 minutes drive from the airport. The hotel is peaceful, tranquil, and architecturally significant, since it is about 15 minutes away from the town of Seogwipo, where other major hotels are. The offerings are simple yet luxurious: there is no gym, no pool, nothing to do within walking distance really (except the adjacent golf club), except a delightful stroll around the property. Yet, everything the hotel offers is refined, generous and soul fulfilling: the in room hot spring, free mini bar with local Jeju oranges replenished daily, one restaurant with great food. Our mindset quickly adapted to this atmosphere and the stay was truly relaxing and healing. ||There are Korean style rooms which face the garden, and Western style rooms which face the ocean. We had a Korean style room with heated floors, and a beautiful hinoki soaking tub. Breakfasts, included with our room rate, is not to be missed. We also dined at the hotel one evening and it was one of the most refined meals we had in Jeju Island. ||As every traveler knows, service is what makes a hotel special. I particularly want to commend one staff member at Podo Hotel. In the beginning, we were concerned, as we realized that English does not get one very far in Jeju. Front desk supervisor Mr. Lee Seung Yeop (Jason), swiftly took over upon arrival. Jason is fluent in English, pleasant, thoughtful and polite. He helped us from luggage, to planning our daily itinerary, personally making dining reservations and even with our car navigating system. When we left a personal item at a restaurant, he offered to retrieve it the next morning and swiftly found us on the island, to return it. This is the kind of service not even guaranteed by some of the top notch hotels in the world. Jason went over and beyond expectations, and we are most grateful. Jason's remarkable gallantry is what made our stay in Jeju truly special.||Podo hotel feels like home (just better), and has quickly become one of my happy places. I wish to return over...

PODO hotel is located on the PINX golf course west of Hallasan. The location is rather remote but beautiful. We were wowed by the hotel's architecture and its surroundings. ||||We stayed in 3 western styled rooms overlooking a beautiful garden. These rooms had access to an outdoor area where you could enjoy a drink. The rooms were large and well-appointed with free minibar and snacks. There is piped-in hot spring water guests can enjoy in the privacy of their own tub. As we have chosen the Western-styled room, it room came with a 150 cm regular acrylic type bathtub. For those who enjoy onsen-styled baths, the Korean rooms may suit you better as they come with a Hinoki bathtub. ||||Even though the hotel has great hardware, it was severely let down by the software.||||Service was quite poor, especially at the restaurant. The staff was seen to serve Korean guests ahead of us despite us being there first. They were also very curt and often slammed the items on the table. On one of the days, they could not cope with the breakfast service - we had to wait for about 30 minutes while they clean up the tables which have been vacated for a while. ||||Whilst one could excuse their sub-par service at breakfast to insufficient staffing and reluctance to communicate in English, one cannot excuse the housekeeping. ||||The housekeeper left the balcony door open presumably while doing the turndown service. This resulted in the room being extremely cold when we returned after a day out. The balcony area also leads to the outdoor common area. This means that the room was essentially left unlocked for the duration that the door was opened. In addition, the mats usually placed by the bedside were strewn over the lampshades. ||||One can only surmise that the housekeeper left the room absentmindedly. Luckily for us, nothing was lost, but this still constituted a severe security breach, that is unacceptable for any hotel. ||||Overall, I would suggest international guests to rethink this property primarily due to poor service. They seem to cater only to the local Korean market and are ill-equipped to receive...